Sunday, December 6, 2015

The
18th annual Promising Practices Multicultural Conference took place at the
Donovan Dining Center at Rhode Island College on Saturday, November 7, 2015.
When I woke up that day I was exhausted, especially when I had to wake up very
early on Saturday, I was nervous about what to expect on that day. I got ready
early so that I could look presentable for the day's activities. I have never
been to something like this before and I wondered if it would be boring or not.

First,
when I arrived I checked in, and I found my name tag on the table, which had
the name of the workshops that I will attend, the process was quick and easy.
After that I found some of my classmates, were we sat together on the same
table and have some breakfast.

The
Conference officially started at 8:30 a.m. when Dr. Nancy Carriuolo the
president of Rhode Island College address her Welcome Remarks. Then it was the
Keynote Address by Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the Director of Rhode Island
Department of Health. The Keynote was about the purpose and importance ofintegrating public health and social work. Dr. Scott discussed that how the
public health can be different from district to another, which explains why the
districts with the low income families has more issues like abortion, drugs, and diseases because
they are not aware of the importance of public health.

While
Dr. Scott was discussing the importance of the public health, especially in the
districts with the low income families, I got a Kozol moment, which reminds me
of the people of Mott Haven, and how they suffered from many issues like drugs
and diseases, because they live in one of the district which has a low income
families.

My
first workshop was called "Hearing Empathy", I was there with Taylor,
Sydney, and many more from the FNED class. We kept looking at each other
because the presenter was very confusing and he was so fast. I think the reason
is he had a lot information that he wanted us to know in a short period of
time. When I first walked in to the room, I got a Delpit moment, when I see that he had
all the points that he wanted to discuss with us, and how he has the rules and
codes of power written on the board.

My
second workshop was really interesting, It called "Worldviews EducationLecture Series". The presenters described how the Rhode Island College's
Feinstein School of Education and Human Development's Diversity Committee
Launched a project to enhance teacher candidates' and helping professionals' interactive
learning with culturally and linguistically diverse professionals around the
world and nation. what was very interesting, when we saw a live lecture on Skype
with a student from Japan. I got an August moment, because this project is
creating a safe spaces for many students all over the world to by encouraging
them to learn.

At the end, I was happy I went to the conference . It was a great experience. I
can't wait to go again next year. Hopefully It's not going to be as early as
this year!!!

Monday, November 30, 2015

"EmpoweringEducation"by Ira Shordiscusses
different methods of learning and teaching in the classroom. It discusses how
classrooms today are too focused on drilling information and memorization
rather than thinking critically and making connections which will benefit
students later on in problem solving and real life experience.

1- "In a curriculum that encourages
student questioning, the teacher avoids unilateral transfer of knowledge. She
or he helps students develop their intellectual and emotional powers to examine
their learning in school, their everyday experience, and the conditions in
society. Empowered students make meaning and act from reflection, instead of
memorizing facts and values handed to them."

I
believe this quote is stating that in a curriculum where the teachers encourage
their students to be involved and ask questions, they are also avoiding a
"transfer of knowledge" . Not only does the teacher help the students
to learn in school, but he or she helps them to learn in everyday experience
and in the society. Lastly empowered students actually learn what they have
been taught instead of just memorizing it and turning it in for the grade.

2-
"A critical and empowering class begins by examining its subject matter
from the students' point of view and by helping students see themselves as
knowledgeable people. I wanted them to take, from day one, a critical attitude
towards their knowledge, their writing habits, and their education."

This
quote makes total sense. A good way of teaching is by finding the students'
point of views and hearing their input. This will also show themselves that
they are knowledgeable people and they need to see their attitude towards their
knowledge, and education. I think if they can succeed with all of these
credentials, they will have an easier and more fun time learning.

3-
" The teacher plays a key role in the critical classroom. Students
participation and positive emotion are influenced by the teacher's commitment
to both. One limit to this commitment comes from the teacher's development in
tradition. In schools where passive, competitive; and authoritarian method,
dominated. As student teachers learned early and often that to be a teacher
means talking a lot and being in charge."

This
quote makes me think of Delpit, when she argues that there are rules and codes
of power, and in the classroom the teacher has to explicitly teach these rules
and codes to the students, especially because many of them may not learn them
at home.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Christopher kliewer argues that
students with disabilities should be educated with all students of different
learning abilities. They should be given the chance to learn in mainstream
learning environment so every student would be able to grow,
develop, and learn from one another; in a different way from the students who
are on the same level.

"Success in life requires
an ability to form relationships with others who make up the web of community.
Though many of us have a certain level of control over who we meet and interact
with, none of us can come close to claiming complete control. So we learn to
work with others."

I think this is a great quote because everything that is said in it is true. You can't pick your classmates or the students you will teach. They are just given to you and you have to do the best that you can so they can learn. It may be hard at the beginning but overtime you could form a great bond with these students.

"School citizenship requires that students not be categorized and separated based on presumed defect."

I like the whole idea of this
"citizenship" way of running a school. I don't think that children or
adults with any issue, Down Syndrome being one of them, should feel that they
need to be separated from others, especially in schools. Teachers are there to
educate the students and it is their responsibility to make sure that a school
day runs smoothly so the students can get the best out of the school day. I
think it is important that students have the opportunity to learn from each other
as well. Children with Down Syndrome
should be able to sit in a class with children who do not have Down Syndrome.

"Teachers who valued their children as citizens recognized each student's individuality."

This quote goes along with the quote above. Everyone has the right to be their own person and everyone has the right to be recognized as individuals, even people with Down Syndrome. Rather than labeling labeling students with Down Syndrome under one name, we have to look at them as they are citizens and then they can be seen for who they are as an individuals.

I found a great connection between Kliewer's reading and Jonson's Piece about SCWAAMP . Johnson said able-bodied individuals were privileged while those with disabilities were silenced. I didn't realize how right he was until reading this chapter from Kliewer's book. Incorporating these children children into the classroom will not only allow them to achieve greater academically then if they were in a special education classroom, but it will also give the other children the chance to look at the children with disabilities as one of them , not different.I found a an article I like to share with you, which states that all students with special needs are capable of success and they need to be given a great deal of encouragement. Click here

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Patrick Finn's main focus is to identify that there is an
imbalance in education among social classes. According to Finn , there are two
kinds of education, there is empowering education, which leads to
powerful literacy, the kind of literacy that leads to positions of power and
authority. The second kind of education is domesticating education, which
leads to functional literacy, literacy that makes a person productive and
dependable. He believes that student from the high social class get
empowering education and powerful literacy. While the students from the working
class and the middle class receive domesticating education and functional
literacy.

This is totally unfair when schools are not providing the
same opportunities for each student. That reminds me of Kristof When he describes
the U.S.A. by "The land of limitations". Kristof also mentions that how
parents are very important in their kids future. In a society that classifies
people by their class level.

When Finn says "people who have the power to make
changes are comfortable with the way things are" that made me think of
Delpit's culture of power. The fifth idea of the culture of power is "
those with power are frequently least aware of or least willing to acknowledge its
existence."Finn and Delpit both agree that the ones with the power are in
the upper class has access to the best education because of their wealth and
power.

Finn spoke aboutKozal in this chapter, in regards to titling
his book. kozal has a story called "Savage Inequalities". This
reminds me of Mott Haven and how utterly unfair that their whole town and
eucation system is compared to the upper class that has more power.

I found an article I like to share with you. Which describes how education is important for kids future.click here

Sunday, November 1, 2015

I went with My SL classroom to the library during story time.they were was at the library. I met Mrs. Sabo the
librarian. She starts reading the story but the kids was making lots of noise.
They were acting completely different than the way they act at Mrs. Aubin's
class who is their classroom teacher. Mrs. Sabo was very mad, she was screaming trying to make the students to
pay attention to the story. When she
gave up she used a whistle. I thought that will work, but that didn't work either. Then I got a Delpit moment which makes me know the reason that
makes the students don't want to listen to Mrs. Sabo is because she didn't
explicitly teach the rules and codes of power to the students who might not
learn those rules and codes at home. Lisa Delpit says: "If you are not
already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules
of that culture makes acquiring power easier."

Rodriguez:

On
the next visit to my SL class. Mrs. Aubinwas honoring Angela for being the student of the month. Angela was very
proud of herself and her Hispanic culture while she was telling her classmates
what did she had to do to have lunch with the principle as a part of honoring her
for being the student of the month. Angela mentions that her grandmother always
telling her that she has to be proud of who she is to be a better person. When
I heard what Angela said that reminds me of Rodriguez when sacrificed his
private identity as an Hispanic student for his public identity so he can fit
in the American society. Rodriguez said "there are two ways a person is
individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished
sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society,
such assimilation makes possible the
achievement of public individuality."

On
the other side Angela she doesn't have to sacrifice her private Identity as an
Hispanic student for her public Identity. She is very proud of her Hispanic
culture, at the same time she is the student of the month.

Collier:

At
the same visit, Mrs. Aubin was reading a story for the students during their
story time. The story was in English. There was another version of the story in
Spanish At the end of the book. Because Most of the students were Hispanic and
they know how to speak Spanish, they got very excited when they saw that. Mrs.
Aubin asked "is There anyone know how to read Spanish?". They were
saying at the same time "me, me, I know how to read Spanish". Then
she picked a few students to read different paragraphs of the story.

I
got a Collier moment. When I saw how Mrs. Aubin encouraged the students to keep
their private identity by honoring their first language when she asked them
"who knows how to read in Spanish?". Collier said "teach the
standard form of English and students' home language together with an
appreciation of dialect differences to create an environment of language
recognition in the classroom" . Mrs. Aubin made a great connection between
the two languages. Which will help her first grade students to be successful in
English as well. So they don't have to sacrifice their private identity for the
public identity. Not like what Rodriguez had to do.